Precedent: Book Three: Covenant of Trust Series (37 page)

“
Esther, stop it!” Shannon was only partly kidding. “You can’t know all this stuff!”

“
Come on, it’s lunch time. Let me buy you a cheeseburger outta the machine downstairs. Make it up to you.”

“
Thanks, but I packed a lunch today.”

“
Then you at least need a Coke. Come on.” Esther locked the cart back in the closet.

“
Wow, just one floor to go,” Shannon said as they got on the elevator to go downstairs. “It’s much better working with you, Esther.”

“
In spite of everything?”

Shannon nodded. “It’s good to have somebody else to talk to.” Esther followed her to the break room where Shannon pulled an insulated lunch container from the refrigerator. Esther took out a coin purse and began making her selections from the vending machines.

Joining Shannon at a table, she unwrapped her sandwich and opened her bag of chips. “If I haven’t made you too mad at me, can I tell you a story about your brother?”

“
You didn’t make me mad, and I would love to hear your story,” Shannon said.

“
Brad led me to Jesus, Shannon. Just after Julius died, he came to my place. Sat on my couch and talked to me. Oh, and I argued with him. Told him I was too far gone, it was too late, all that kind of stuff.”

She looked away, tears forming even after so many years. “He read to me out of Joel, of all places. God says, ‘Turn to Me now while there’s time.’ Then Brad says to me in that preacher voice, ‘Now’s the time, Esther. Now.’”

“
Wow, he was good,” Shannon said.

“
He was. But you know what God says right after that? He says, ‘I will restore, I will give back to you what you lost, what the locusts ate.’ Now, God don’t have a time machine, I know, and He ain’t gonna bring Julius back from the dead, but He did give me my self-respect back, my purpose, my hope. I gotta reason to get up in the morning, and it ain’t cleaning hotel rooms.”

Esther smiled and raised her eyebrow. “Baby, I’m sure you ain’t supposed to be here. God don’t want you here. He wants you back home with your mama and your daddy.”

“
I know,” Shannon admitted, her voice barely audible over the rattle of the heating system.

“
Then what’s stopping you?”

Shannon sighed deeply. “You nailed it awhile ago, I’m ashamed. I’m afraid to face my mom and dad and tell them what I did.”

“
Love is stronger than shame, baby. I promise you. Love is stronger.”

Chapter 23

Breakthrough

Thursday, December 25

Just after six a.m., Abby Greenway Molinsky started the water for a hot shower. For once she managed to wake up before her husband. Joel functioned perfectly well on four hours of sleep a night, but just for Christmas, he seemed to have switched off his internal alarm clock. Her son, on the other hand, was a typical teenager and likely wouldn’t rouse until nine thirty or ten.

She and Joel always had Christmas breakfast in bed, with the first one awake responsible for fixing it. Abby had already started the coffee and put the turkey in the oven for Christmas dinner later that afternoon. Even though her parents would be here, she was calm, actually anticipating the meal. Joel’s parents were coming. They’d done so much for her, accepted her into the family with open arms, and she was glad to have the chance to pay them back in some small way. They would temper anything her parents might say or do. She hoped her mom and dad would take notes today, notes on how to accept flawed, failed people, daughters especially, with grace and dignity.

Before getting in the shower, she pulled out a small calendar that she kept in one of the bathroom cabinet drawers. Since she and Joel had run into fertility issues, she kept a careful watch on her cycle, but with the rush of activity this past week, she’d mentally lost track. Today marked the third day she was late. She counted and recounted, backwards and forwards, tapping the calendar a little harder with each pass. She’d never been three days late . . . except when she was pregnant with Ryan.

“
No way,” she said, trying to suppress a smile, coaching herself not to get too excited. With her hands trembling, she dug through the cabinet under the sink, finally locating a home pregnancy test kit far in the back. Before opening the package, she debated whether or not she should wake Joel. If this was it, he would want to be in on it. But if it wasn’t, she would rather he didn’t know anything at all than to tell him once again, “not this month.”

She fumbled with the package, tearing it open, destroying the box in the process. Then, unfolding the instruction sheet, she read it carefully three or four times before following the steps to the letter. Simple, straightforward. Too nervous to shower now, she paced as she watched the clock on the wall tick off the seconds. The first line appeared in the test window, which only heightened Abby’s anticipation.

She sat down on the edge of the tub, almost dizzy. “I can’t watch this.” Another minute passed. “One more minute, just to be sure.” At last, she grasped the edge of the bathroom sink, and pulling herself up, she picked up the test stick. “JOEL!”

* * *

Shannon stood on the porch of Esther Parker’s home, promptly at noon. Esther’s house blended in with the other cracker box houses packed closely on the street. Only the paint color on the porch, front door and shutters distinguished the houses from one another. There were no yards to speak of, and the houses were barely as wide as the cars parked in front of them. Last Christmas, Shannon wouldn’t have been caught dead in a neighborhood like Esther’s.

Before she could even raise her hand to knock, Esther opened the door. “Come in, baby. Come in!” She was dressed in her Sunday best, with every hair in place, bright lipstick and a string of pearls.

“
You didn’t tell me this was a dress-up dinner,” Shannon said, suddenly self-conscious in her jeans.

“
Look, you do Christmas your way. I’ll do it my way and neither one of us has to feel bad about that, all right?”

“
Your mom’s not here,” Shannon said, glancing around the living room.

“
No, and I gotta confession. She’s at Uncle Mont’s and I promised I would be there by three.”

“
You should go then.”

“
It ain’t three yet. We got plenty of time. Come on.”

“
Everything smells great,” Shannon said, breathing in deeply.

“
It’ll taste good, too. Just wait.”

“
Can I help you with anything?”

“
Don’t you know how to be a guest at somebody’s house?” Shannon smiled and nodded. “Then have a seat at my table.” As soon as Shannon slid into one of the chairs at the kitchen table, Esther began setting bowls and platters in front of her. Ham, sweet potatoes, greens, corn, cranberry salad and a basket of warm rolls. Shannon, suddenly overwhelmed by the meal, real food cooked by someone who cared about her, began to cry and then sob.

“
Baby, what’s wrong?” Esther asked gently, as she knelt and wrapped her arms around Shannon. “It’ll be all right.” She patted the teenager’s back, rocking ever so slightly, all the while whispering, “Shhh, it’s all right, baby.”

With her tears exhausted, Shannon pushed away from Esther. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened,” she said, wiping her eyes.

“
You’re missing your mama,” Esther said, reaching for a box of tissues.

“
I guess,” Shannon admitted softly.

“
Call her.”

“
What?”

“
Call your mama, right now.”

“
I can’t do that,” Shannon protested. “They have caller ID. They’ll find me.”

“
First of all, I got a blocker on my number. Second, even jailbirds call their mamas on Christmas. Just tell her you love her.” Esther pulled the receiver down from the wall phone and handed it to Shannon. She held the phone carefully, almost reverently. “You remember your phone number, don’t you?”

“
Yes. I just . . . I don’t know what she’ll say.”

“
Baby, there is nothing on this earth your mama wants any more than to hear from you.”

Shannon swallowed hard and dialed, then lifting the receiver to her ear, she listened to it ring . . . and ring . . . and ring, then the answering machine picked up. Shannon clicked off the phone and held it out for Esther. “She wasn’t home.”

Esther crossed her arms across her chest, refusing to take the phone back. “Then where is she?”

“
Oh, probably my brother’s or my aunt’s.”

“
Call her there.”

“
I’m not tracking her all over town. I don’t want to talk to a bunch of people, even if they are relatives.”

“
I’m not taking the phone back,” Esther said firmly.

“
You want me to leave a message?”

“
At least.”

“
Fine,” Shannon muttered. She dialed home again and waited through the three rings, but when her dad’s answering machine greeting came on, she choked. After struggling through a few broken words, she ended the call and held the phone out for Esther again. “There. Are you happy?”

“
Are you?”

Shannon sighed and looked around the kitchen, blinking back tears. “No.”

“
You want me to call your daddy to come get you?”

“
No.”

“
Mmm, mmm, I don’t understand you, child.”

“
A couple of weeks ago, somebody told me my dad was still furious with me. He doesn’t want me home.”

“
Now that’s a lie,” Esther said, uncrossing her arms and placing her hands on her hips. “I don’t know who told you that, but it’s a flat-out lie. Your mama and daddy are married, right?”

“
Yeah, so?”

“
Your daddy could not be that mad at you and still live with your mama every day. He couldn’t. He couldn’t watch her be all torn up about you being gone and not want you home. I’m telling you, somebody’s lying to you, girl.” Esther took a seat at the table beside Shannon. “Baby, it’s just like what Brad read to me a long time ago. ‘Now’s the time.’ There’s no sense to waiting.”

Shannon took a deep breath and weighed things out. She knew in her heart that Esther was right, but the guilt and the fear of facing her dad’s anger, or worse, his disappointment, were too heavy. “Esther, do you think God could let me know things were okay at home?”

“
How so? What do you want Him to do?”

“
I want Him to send my dad to get me,” Shannon said through tears.

“
Baby, you just said your daddy doesn’t know where you are.”

“
God knows where I am. If He wants me home, if my dad wants me home, then God should be able to take care of the details.”

* * *

Abby couldn’t resist straightening a fork as she passed by the dining table on her way back to the kitchen. The table had been set for hours, and aromas of roasting turkey, baking bread and the cinnamon candle in the living room mingled through the house. Joel stood at the kitchen table carving the turkey, like he’d stepped out of a Norman Rockwell print. Everything was perfect. “Do you know what you’re going to say?” she asked him.

“
Yeah, I think I’ve got it. Ryan said he can play it cool.” He laid the carving knife aside and slipped his arms around his wife’s waist, and kissed her gently. “I love you. I wish you could feel it.”

“
I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this,” Abby said, blushing.

“
Two days after I met you. It was just like this, I promise.”

“
It took you two whole days?”

“
I was pretty sure you thought I was a dork after that first time I talked to you.”

“
Are you kidding? I couldn’t believe you talked to
me
.”

“
Yeah, and look where it got me!” Joel said, his blue eyes twinkling. “I can’t wait to see the look on Mom’s face.”

“
You won’t have to wait long,” Abby said, glancing out the kitchen window. “I think that’s them.”

“
My mother, always painfully punctual,” Joel muttered.

“
Not just yours. Mine pulled in right behind them.”

“
Good, that means they have to leave first,” Joel teased.

Abby punched him in the arm as she left the kitchen to let everyone in. She gently hugged Joel’s mother, taking care not to squeeze. “I can’t believe you had surgery a week ago! You look great.”

“
I feel good,” Bobbi said, “although afternoon television is enough to challenge your sanity.” Joel had followed Abby into the entryway and hugged both his parents and Abby’s mother, then shook hands with Rob Greenway. Jack followed moments later with two shopping bags full of wrapped presents.

“
Let this man through!” Joel exclaimed, pushing the door open wide for his little brother.

“
Hey thanks! Merry Christmas,” Jack said. He leaned over and kissed Abby’s cheek.

“
Merry Christmas, Jack. You can just set those by the tree.” She pointed toward the living room where the Christmas tree silently blinked.

“
Abby, everything smells wonderful,” Angela Greenway said, handing her coat to her daughter. Abby caught Joel’s eye and hoped he was the only one who noticed she didn’t hug her parents.